


The Second Step

by getupandgo2011



Series: Covin [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Emperor Hux, Hux Backstory, Kylo Ren Backstory, M/M, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 12:36:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6956701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/getupandgo2011/pseuds/getupandgo2011
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Ben Solo is dead. Kylo Ren is what matters now.'</p><p>In the aftermath of the collapse of Starkiller, Kylo Ren and General Hux have begun to plot the downfall of Snoke and the rise of Hux's own personal empire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Second Step

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to politicalmamaduck for helping to edit this part of the series and keeping me going! <3
> 
> This is the second in a series of three Kylux fics set within the same universe.

 

******

The memorial for Han Solo is on the thirteenth day after the loss of  _ Starkiller _ .

Hux watches sullenly from his desk in his far more inferior chambers aboard the  _ Finalizer _ , head propped against one hand, eyes locked on the holo-screen as the broadcast begins.

He is glad Ren is not seeing this.

 

Leia Organa- still as impressive a figure as she had been in his childhood, if with more grey in her hair and a darkness in her eyes Hux recognises instantly- steps up to the podium with no support, head lifted regally. She has clearly never forgotten her roots as the princess of Alderaan, and he is impressed. It must be difficult to carry on an entire planet's legacy. Around her are the few remaining members of the Senate and those in the Resistance willing to show their faces at such a public event (Hux spots Poe Dameron amongst the crowd, forces himself not to go for the cigarette packet in his drawer). The Wookiee who had shot the hole in Ren's side stands behind her like a block of granite, head lowered sadly. Hux is almost touched at this show.

 

“We are gathered today, as you all know, to mourn the loss of my husband, Han Solo. He was a brilliant General, a leader, the most dedicated businessman I have ever known, a husband, father and friend to all of you gathered here today. But most of all, he was a man; like the rest of us, and he died so that we could all live. The Force chose to take Han away from us, and we must honour his sacrifice. Thank you.”

Leia wipes at her eyes, leans forward to murmur something to the Wookiee. Her speech had been short, powerful and most of all, had set a rumbling amongst the gathered crowd. Hux can see the expressions of the mourners- the sadness, the grief, the  _ need  _ for vengeance. Her descent from the platform is met with applause, if completely blocked from the camera's view. Hux finally allows himself to tug the packet of cigarettes from the drawer, snapping his lighter with a vengeance until a flame catches the tip. He sucks in the nicotine like a dying man, eyes still locked on the screen, watching for anything that could give the reeling First Order an advantage.

 

“Fire!”

Someone calls.

In the next moment, twenty blasters are fired into the clear blue sky of Corsucant, completely disappearing from view within seconds. Below, on the podium, a dark robed man with curled dark hair and brown, glittering eyes that Hux imagines would typically hold a smile, steps up with a flaming torch- Hux has never seen such a ceremony before for a dead man, he has grown used to the disappearing acts corpses do in the First Order- and bends to light the bonfire. He watches the flames as the holo-screen flickers as the cameras all shift to avoid the brightness damaging the lenses. Leia Organa has tears running down her face slowly, but her expression has not changed. “ _ Hard as a stone,”  _ Hux remembers his father muttering in what would be the last days of the Empire,  _ “but without the frozen heart that would truly make her great _ .”

 

Hux reaches out and slams the holo-projector off, plunging himself back into the darkness. He drops his cigarette in the ash tray beside his elbow, rubbing a hand over his face. His fingers touch stubble he should have shaved days ago. Hux is not certain the last time he felt the spray of the shower against his shoulders, or when he last washed his hair (lying flat against his forehead, soft without its usual gel).

“What should I do?”

Millicent says nothing in reply, just hops from the bed and twines around his ankles a few times. Hux feels almost reassured by her steady presence, reaches out to brush his fingers through her ginger fur, breathing in slowly.

“This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was meant to happen.”

He mutters to himself, elbows on the desk, leaning forward until his head is almost touching the wood. The flashing light of the holo-projector going into standby is what he focuses his gaze on, preparing himself to stand up. To go into the shower and shave. Find a uniform that looks cleaner than it probably is, to shove his aching feet into regulation boots. To be the man he needs to be in order to take over from Snoke one day.

 

But first?

He will visit Kylo Ren.

******

“You missed your father's memorial.”

“I didn't want to see it.”

Ren mutters, arms folded as well as he can across his bandaged chest. The wound on his face is healing faster than anticipated by the medics, who now that he is becoming better, have taken to attending to other matters far away. Hux drops down onto the chair beside the bed heavily, exhausted from just the walk here (he managed to shower, but the effort of holding a razor proved too much- just staring at his reflection was bad enough).

“Well it was a beautiful ceremony. Your mother was there, the walking seven feet tall carpet and the rest of the Resistance. I imagine it was broadcast for our benefit.”

“He would have hated that.”

Hux reaches out gently, carefully, to rest his hand against Ren's thigh, slowly rubbing the blanket in an attempt to be comforting (this, what he is doing here, is new; Ren never allowed comfort into his life before). His eyes  _ burn  _ with tiredness, head pounding beneath the fluorescent lights of the med-bay. He can feel Ren poking softly at the corners of his mind, curious as to what the problem is but waiting for permission to come in. Hux finds himself strangely touched at the silent boundaries set.

 

_ 'How goes the rebuilding of your reputation, General?' _

“I'm not sure I'll hold the title of General for much longer,” Hux starts, voice pitched low should anyone be listening. The last two weeks has proven something to him: his officers are only loyal when his reputation is not in a downward slope into banishment.

“Snoke is furious. Our super weapon was destroyed in front of the entire Order's faces. Thousands of lives lost searching for that map, even more in the explosion. You should see the paperwork, Ren.”

Ren uncrosses his arms long enough to seize Hux's free hand between his chilly, pale fingers, tightening his grip until it almost hurts. His eyes are large and dark and warm as he stares at Hux, digging his way into the corners of Hux's mind where he's tried to bury the whole disaster. The irises of his eyes darken the longer he watches their crew's deaths as Hux's memory recalls it; tension begins to build in the room every time a new memory flickers, hands trembling against the bed sheets.

 

“This is  _ his  _ fault.”

Hux blinks, surprised. He had never heard Ren speak in such a tone in terms of Snoke- with such fury in his voice and pain in his eyes. There had been fear (of that, Hux had witnessed a lot), hesitancy, blind devotion, gratitude- but nothing like this, ever before. Dark eyes intently stare into the middle distance, fingers knotted into the sheets in an attempt to stay calm. The Kylo Ren of old would have found the nearest console and thrown it through the nearest wall feeling such a thing. Hux shifts in his chair, sending waves of calm and the sound of rain against his childhood bedroom windows through the link in their mind.

“You need to calm down. I can't think about fixing the ship in this state.”

He manages to free his hand from Ren's grip, points at his unruly hair, the stubble on his jaw and the lines of exhaustion around his eyes. Ren's fingers tighten in the sheets, gaze flickering over Hux's face with unfocused eyes. His jaw is tight.

 

_ 'I killed my own father for him.' _

“Do you want to talk about that?”

Hux has never been good at emotions. Upon the death of his own father, the twenty year old Darian Stanford Hux, now a Major well on his way to becoming a Colonel, had attended the funeral silently. His mother had not come, having long given up her life as a Commandant's wife to live across the galaxy with her sister and his cousins. She sent flowers and a bottle of whisky no-one living could enjoy. He had not sobbed for the man he had spent most of his life thinking of as a fool; suffered through the genuine discussions of his father's character as sharp words grew on his tongue (words, he would never say in front of any of the old men gathered in his father's gambling quarters, touching his books with their cracked fingers).

Ren's mouth trembles as if he's forcing words to stay inside, his eyes squeezed shut. His eyelashes are black against his pale cheeks. Always so bad at containing his emotions. If it wasn't such an annoyance- and an expense- Hux would admire his way of lashing out as a coping mechanism. He has always contained everything into tight, unbreathable spaces until the memories eventually fade (or, as he has become more prone to doing in the four years he has known Kylo Ren, digging out his packet of cigarettes from his drawer of shame and smoking them near the air recyclers in the dead of night).

 

“Not now. Later, maybe.”

Ren finally manages to say, opening his eyes, voice lower and hoarser than Hux has ever heard it. He wants to reach out and gather the trembling, pale body in front of him in his arms and never let go. Thirteen days and already they have fallen back into old patterns, like nothing had changed in those miserable years after the incident. Tears begin to roll down Ren's face, catching in the wound though he doesn't wince away from the pain.

“Would.. you like me to read you the expenditure reports?”

Hux asks after a moment. He presses his fingers lightly against Ren's thigh, silently wondering what he's supposed to do in this situation. Hux has never seen the other man cry before- the screaming as his body was pieced back together had been the most pain he'd ever seen- and tries to react like he imagines one is supposed to. Ren sucks in a sharp breath that could be a laugh, coughing for a moment afterwards. He beckons Hux closer, enough to make him rise from his chair in alarm, wondering if he should get a medic.

“Come here.”

Ren mutters, hands outstretched like a child reaching for a toy. Hux stares at the tear tracks on the other man's face as he shuffles around his chair to stand at the top of the bed, bemused and with just the slightest of hesitancy in his movements.

“Promise you aren't on the verge of giving your last words.”

_ 'I'm not. Come here.' _

 

He stands awkwardly beside the head of the bed for a moment before Ren reaches up and wraps his arms tightly around Hux's waist, burying his face into the softness of his shirt. Hux can't stop himself from tensing, unused to being so close after being so far, unsure what to do with his hands. Ren sniffs softly, his shoulders shaking. Hux lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, lets one of his hands drift down to rest in Ren's dark hair, gently smoothing it with his fingers. The other he presses against the bandages wrapped around the other man's shoulder, grazing each freckle he sees with a fingernail. Hux's gaze lifts to the ceiling, his own eyes stinging with tears he has not allowed to fall in years, as he tries to send all the love- all the terrifying, real love- into the part of Ren's mind open to him, even now. The way that Ren's grip tightens on his shirt tells him all he needs to know.

They stay like that for a long time.

 

******

“General Hux. Report.”

Snoke's voice feels like a cold whip against his spine. He blinks the tiredness from his eyes, forces himself to stand even straighter (his perfect posture screams in pain) and begins to speak, mindful to look terrified of the hologram in front of him.

“On final total, the loss at  _ Starkiller  _ base was around 13,000 crew, 620 officers. We lost 86 of our remaining TIE fighters, 24 of our shuttles and trade ships as well as numerous pieces of irreplaceable equipment and information.”

The loss of life is what stings Hux the most. There is always the chance to purchase more TIE fighters- though not for at least the next eighteen months, according to his calculations- and to rediscover the information from the archives of the Empire, but nothing could bring back the lives of his crew and officers. Snoke isn't the one having to write letters of condolence to every faction of the galaxy, spewing lies about how their family member had made the First Order proud in their last moments.

“And Kylo Ren?”

“Recovering, Supreme Leader. The medics believe his abilities will not be diminished for long by the physical injuries given to him by the girl and the traitor.”

Snoke's face tightens noticeably. No aid has been sent to the  _ Finalizer  _ from the Supreme Leader, no matter how many wounded Hux has stood over in the last month. He cannot even count how many memorial services he has been to, only that he has seen no-one openly weep for their fallen comrades yet (and that, inexplicably, reminds him of Ren and the tight circle of his arms around his waist).

 

“You displeased me, General, with the fall of your base. Do not do it again.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Hux bows low, enough that he feels his knees complain. The hologram flickers away a moment later, leaving him in the significantly damper and smaller version of their holo-chamber. He aches for the freezing wilderness of  _ Starkiller  _ in moments like these, when details of his failure are brought to the top and nitpicked with cold, wicked fingers.

_ 'Where are you?' _

Hux sends out to Ren, closing his eyes and mentally beginning to tally all his remaining officers into a list in order of their capabilities. In times like this, with the world seemingly collapsing around his ears, he finds the repetition of counting to be a comforting vice.

_ 'In my rooms. Why?' _

The voice is a comfort, even from this distance. Hux lets out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding, relaxing his shoulders enough that his muscles stop trying to separate themselves from his skeleton. He turns away from the throne, already plotting.

_ 'Meet me on the bridge, bring my cigarettes.' _

 

******

Since Ren lost the helmet, he's taken to hiding behind the hood of his robes like a monk. As strange and non-threatening as it looks to the naked eye, Hux appreciates the effort Ren is expending to keeping up appearances. He appreciates the crumpled pack of cigarettes pressed into his waiting palm as Ren steps up to stand beside him even more.

“Snoke is not impressed with us.”

Ren says, the flat tone to his voice implying it is more of a statement than a question. It has not been discussed as of yet- Hux is in no haste to put this particular plan into action at this time- but they both know that Ren's blind devotion to Snoke will wither away as time passes; and he will have to keep up the dutiful student act for as long as needed.

“No. More so with me than you. I get the opinion he would have preferred I went down with the base like a good captain should.”

_ 'Don't ever say that.' _

Ren snaps inside his head, cold as steel and as sharp as the knife he had carried in his childhood. Hux slants a glance in his direction under the pretence of watching the nearest monitor. Ren's eyes flicker guiltily to meet his, then down to the railing both of his gloved hands are wrapped around. The metal is bending with the force of his grip.

“A good captain keeps his crew together as well as he can, even I know that.”

Hux hears Ren mutter as he turns to lift his data-pad from Mitaka's console. He begins to pace. In times like this, he finds it comforting to be moving, carefully ignoring the empty chairs at turned off consoles. Even seeing Mitaka's terrified little face when Ren follows Hux to the end of the bridge is enough to raise his spirits to a more optimal level.

 

Hux peers out into the stars around them through the viewports, smiling to himself when Ren hovers at his shoulder carefully. Out of the med-bay two weeks with strict instructions to do nothing strenuous, Ren has taken to following him from meeting to meeting, or just for his (significantly shorter) walk around the ship.

“When was the last time you slept?”

Ren asks, bowing his head as he slips around to stand beside Hux. His eyes are just visible enough for Hux to see the worry, the near constant shred of pain he's been carrying since fighting the girl. The wound on his face is no longer the raw, burning red of before- it has faded to a pink scar that is darker at the edges.

“Eighteen hours ago. Why? When was the last time you slept, Lord Ren?”

No answer. Not that he was expecting one. Ren's sleeping habits had been peculiar long before Hux had paid them any notice- he would disappear for a few hours, the ship would be silent and then return in a burst of energy almost painful to witness.

 

_ 'I'm worried about you.' _

He beckons at the cigarettes still clutched in Hux's hand, as if it is the only thing keeping him tethered here. Hux never smokes in public, let alone on the bridge of the  _ Finalizer _ . More privately, he pushes his memories of their time together recently, with sharp emphasis on the deep pits growing around Hux's eyes. Hux is (once again) touched by Ren's concern, remembers a time when he thought a monster could not feel such a thing for another person. Their moment in the snow, as the planet collapsed around them, had told Hux all he needed to know about the genuineness of Ren's feelings about him. Hux tucks his cigarettes away into the pocket of his great-coat, and in the next moment, presses his fingers against the clenched fist at Ren's side.

“Don't be. Worry about yourself. About the plan.”

_ 'I'll always worry about you. You push yourself too hard.' _

Hux turns and smiles at him, warmly. The feelings Ren pushes through their bond is enough to make him pleased he did it- some of the concern drains away to be replaced by relief, a childish pleasure at making Hux feel something other than the despair clouding his judgement for over a month. Ren lowers his gaze but around his lips grows a smile that Hux recognises well. Awkward and proud and so the man that he loves.

_ 'Meet me in my quarters. Tonight. We have things to discuss.' _

Ren nods, sloping away to do whatever he does in the calmer hours of the cycle. Hux lifts his gaze to the stars, breathes in sharply, and begins to plan.

 

******

“Sir.”

“Phasma.”

Hux can't stop himself from smiling at the chrome armoured woman in front of him. The hour that he thought her dead after  _ Starkiller  _ had been one he does not want to repeat. She stands to attention, before lifting the helmet from her head carefully and placing it on his desk, in between his data-pad and and the pot of caf he's been staring into for the past hour. Filling out forms 86-1B has proven difficult when all he can think of is his desire to crush Snoke and rule over the galaxy. Ren hasn't been helping either, humming snatches of tunes every time he is called upon by Snoke in order to disguise the blasphemous thoughts he has about his Master.

“I have a concern.”

“Does this relate to any of this?” he waves a hand at the pile of forms overflowing from his desk and onto the chair in front of him. Phasma's blue eyes narrow, not appreciating the remark but too restrained to say something about it. He has always appreciated that about her.

“About you and Kylo Ren.”

Hux rises from his chair, crossing the room to carefully shut the door. That movement alone most likely tells Phasma everything she could possibly need to know. She is polite enough to not say anything as he crosses the room to peer out the viewport.

 

“The situation between Ren and I has been resolved since the collapse of  _ Starkiller _ . We have discussed it and decided this is the best course of action for the two of us to take.”

“No offence, sir, but he found about the plan. He was ready to kill you.”

Hux has bottled the memories of that particular incident down deep inside himself. It is the kind of raw wound that continues to weep even when one has stopped poking at the edges, never healing and never covering over fully.

“He was ready to kill me. And then fate tried to kill him on the base, as it did you.”

Phasma's escape from the trash compactor has become the stuff of canteen legends, Hux is told. Her remaining troopers from  _ Starkiller _ are quieter, more reserved than before, but the new shipments all clamour to hear of how she had resumed the role of acting commander within moments of landing. Hux imagines that- if it were more well known- Ren's fight with the girl would be another kind of legend.

 

“Do you have a plan for this?”

Hux turns back to face his oldest friend. Takes in the furrow in her brow, the tangled blonde mess of hair sweat soaked from the time in her helmet, the steeliness of her eyes. Phasma has never failed him; they may have disagreed over the years about the well being of the troopers, but they have never had a dispute affect their working relationship. The twenty four year old Colonel Hux had met Phasma not long after beginning his work upon the smaller Star Destroyer, the  _ Avenger VI _ , over ten years ago. He had never learned her real name, only the one she had chosen for herself.

“The reliability of my plans has been tested by recent events. What happens between me and Ren now cannot be predicted, no matter who is creating the plan.”

Hux lets a smile grow on his face. One day, ruling as Emperor with Ren by his side, he would like to have Phasma there too. The three of them- heart, mind and soul- controlling the galaxy and all who had wronged them. Greater than Snoke and his simple amusements could ever be. Phasma's eyes narrow but she no longer presses the issue.

 

“I'll see myself out.”

“Don't worry about us, Captain,”

Hux begins as she slips the helmet back over her face, rolling her shoulders until her armour clanks loudly. The way her head tilts to the side tells him she is still listening.

“What I have planned is what you should be showing concern for.”

“I won't ask.”

She says, turning to the door and striding forcefully. Hux follows, watching her turn down the hallway as two of her troopers stiffen their posture sharply in her presence. The bag of credits they were passing to one another drops to the floor with a clatter.

Hux has never felt more grateful to have a friend like her.

 

******

Ren is already in his chambers when he makes his way there, spread out on the bed, Millicent climbing along his chest with interest. Hux carefully moves the large boots thrown on his floor out of the doorway, rolling his eyes at the pathetic face Ren shoots him. It will be hard to concentrate, being in this room with Ren after so long. He is suddenly grateful his old quarters on  _ Starkiller  _ were lost, if only to wipe away the bad memory of standing across a room from a black, dented helmet.

“You always think of before.”

Ren mutters as Hux wanders to the closet, hanging up his coat swiftly and placing his hat on its shelf. He doesn't reply. They may have discussed a section of what occurred during the months involving 'the plan' but there are some things Hux will never speak of again; better to think of them only during the times that Ren is occupied.

 

He continues to ignore Ren despite the irritation rolling off the other man in crushing waves, tugging his boots off and placing them against the wall per regulation. Hux can feel burning eyes weighing heavily on his back, can barely bring himself to turn around.

“I wasn't angry at you for making your plan,”

Ren starts; his voice is almost painfully uncertain. Hux forces himself to let out the breath he is holding, feeling a lump growing in his throat. He has avoided this very conversation for so long that finally having it is completely surreal.

“I wasn't even angry that you had used me for your own means. My family sought to use me too, but I failed them all. I wasn't what they all thought I would be, what they wanted me to be.”

Hux turns, his eyes stinging. Ren is sitting on the side of the bed, elbows on his knees and feet planted firmly on the floor. His hair is dark and wavy and just on the right side of messy. Hux lets his gaze trace the scar halving his face unevenly, surprisingly smooth looking for such a wound. Looking at this face now, after so long at being faced with a black helmet, is a painful relief to his loudly thudding heart.

 

“You let me use you.”

“I didn't know for certain, not until I found the data-pad. I just wasn't surprised when I did, more hurt than anything else,”

Kylo Ren rises to his full height, looming like a crow in his dark robes. Hux forgets sometimes, that Ren hunches ever so slightly when they are together, pulling his shoulders in tightly around himself like a shield. He hates having to look up at Ren. In less than three strides, he is standing directly in front of Hux, enough to make him tilt his head back to reach the dark eyes staring at him.

“But it taught me something. You wanted nothing more than to defeat Snoke, to succeed him as Emperor. At some point, you decided the plan wasn't working. The file hadn't been opened for months when I found it.”

“It wasn't that the plan had stopped working.”

Hux manages to say after an awkward moment of silence. Ren squints at him, clearly asking for more and getting nothing. His hands ring themselves at his sides. Hux reaches out, cautiously, to tangle his own fingers with the gloved ones in front of him.

“You fell in love with me.”

Ren murmurs, and there is a smile growing in his eyes that Hux wishes more people could see. It is the kind of expression he had heard about in stories from his mother in the years before his father grew interested in his only son's future and not in his wife.

“ _ One day you will know that someone loves you when they look at you like you are the sun,”  _ Hux can remember his mother saying, and it was only years later that he realized she had never meant his father, but maybe someone else entirely.

 

“I did, yes.”

“You have to know that I feel it too. And I've already promised that I'll help you to defeat Snoke, no matter what it takes from me. I can't give you much more.”

Hux rises on his toes, his annoyance at being the shorter one in this relationship long faded with Ren's words. He has missed the occasional gentleness the two of them shared like breathing, the feeling of Ren's mind pressing against his own in silent support of his plans. The years after the incident had been cold, dark and lonely. Hux has never considered Ren to be the sun before now, but he can see the appeal to the idea.

_ 'I wouldn't ask for anything else.' _

This time, he feels the smile growing on Ren's lips, wide and beautiful and  _ content _ , as they kiss for the first time, all over again.

 

******

 

Later, when the night cycle has long begun- he is running forty three minutes behind his usual schedule, cannot bring himself to care with Kylo Ren back in his bed- Hux sits up and reaches for his data-pad. Ren groans beside him, buries his face deeply into the pillow as if that will help him to avoid the plotting they are about to do.

_ 'Can't this wait?' _

“It could, but it won't.”

Ren mutters a few curses to himself, words that Hux, even with his extensive training on languages, doesn't know, before heaving himself up to rest against the back of the bed. Having detailed instructions given to him by the medical droid, their reunion sex had been on the calm side. This doesn't stop Hux from looking smugly at the bruises trailing down to Ren's navel with a pleased smile. Ren must notice because the next time he looks over from his data-pad, he is practically beaming from ear to ear.

“Stop looking so pleased with yourself.”

Hux presses his finger against the private network icon, patiently waiting for it to load. He jumps, only a little, when Ren leans his head against his shoulder lightly, as if waiting for permission to do so. He is still smiling beneath his mop of black hair.

 

“How much does Snoke trust you?”

“Enough to give me detailed information about his Jedi purges, the funding for the Order and the location of his citadel.”

Hux pauses for a moment and lets his free hand tangle through the dark hair in front of him, gently and carefully undoing some of the knots left from the night's activities. Ren is warm, almost a furnace, against his side. It is comforting to have his bed full again.

“He wants you to train with him upon recovery. If you tell me the location of the planet, I'll drop you off and pick you up. That way we can avoid any  _ entanglements  _ with the rest of the crew.”

Ren hums softly, pale hand picking at the sheets pooled around their waists. Hux lets himself relax ever so slightly, loosening his grip on the data-pad enough that it stops leaving grooves in his palm.

“I want you there when I do it. Not just orbiting the planet.”

Ren says, so softly that Hux almost doesn't hear him. To be in the room, finally seeing the death of Snoke, would be a gift that he could not imagine receiving. To watch as Kylo Ren- the Supreme Leader's most loyal Knight- cut him down with a bloody lightsaber. The thought thrills him in a way that nothing has for over a decade, since the first plans for  _ Starkiller  _ had been officially completed. He smiles in the darkness surrounding the bed, face lit up ever so slightly with the light from the data-pad. Hux could see himself, triumphant with the succession of his plan.

“I wouldn't want it any other way.”

Hux leans down carefully, pushing dark hair away from Ren's forehead, to press a kiss to his cheek, avoiding the scar with skill. Ren almost blushes beneath the attention, though it is difficult to tell in the dark.

 

“I believe we can do this.”

Hux says, sometime later when the data-pad is long discarded on the nightstand and Millicent has curled between the two of them contentedly. Ren's long fingers comb through her fur gently, his eyes glittering in the dark. They lay on their sides, barely a foot apart. Closer than they have been in two years- at the time, alone in his bed, Hux had thought the distance would never be filled again.

“I do too.”

The confidence in Ren's voice is heartening to hear. Hux closes his eyes, and does not dream.

 

******

Their first entanglement with the Resistance comes three months and four days after the collapse of  _ Starkiller _ . Hux almost smashes his head into his console when word reaches him, refrains from doing so just to stop the officers from continuing their betting pool on how long it will be before he is banished to the Outer Rim (currently the stakes are within the year, he knows some of the troopers regularly bet per week).

“Send Ren out there.”

He demands to a waiting Mitaka. The little man simply turns and marches through the doors, no doubt to track down whatever part of the ship Ren has decided to hack into today. Phasma stands at his side, hands loosely holding her blaster in front of her. The seventeen stormtroopers based on the bridge keep their heads resolutely turned away from their Captain, actually working now that she is here.

“I want you to go with him. Iridonia belonged to the Empire before there even was one. It was the homeworld of one of the Sith. We can't lose it now, not to them.”

Phasma nods sharply beside him. Neither of them want to discuss anything other than the current situation- fourteen Rebel X-Wing fighters, at least two ships modified to be bombers and a large freighter- unfolding in front of them on the planet below.

 

“Having problems, General?”

Without the helmet, the sarcasm in Ren's tone is so much more apparent. He stalks up to Hux's console with his fists tight at his side, lightsaber swinging on his belt. Hux steps back enough to let Ren view the situation on his screen- Mitaka looks just about ready to faint when he follows the other man back in, sitting down heavily in his chair- in closer detail.

“Can you resolve this within the hour?”

Phasma coughs beneath her helmet. Hux meets Ren's eyes, they gleam with amusement in the darkness caused by his hood, and realizes his mistake. Too familiar. Obvious. Nothing in the plan stated they had to remain enemies in public.

“I can have this situation resolved before then. Captain.”

Ren turns away, a smile growing at the corners of his mouth. Hux raises his gaze to the viewports, barely jumping when he feels the brush of a hand against his back. From this angle, no-one will be able to see how Ren lingers beside him for a few seconds. Phasma follows silently, the two of them leaving the bridge like looming shadows.

_ 'Take care of yourself.' _

_ 'Be sure to be watching.' _

“Get me visuals on the ground. Now.”

Hux snaps.

 

******

The visuals are so startlingly clear that Hux has them brought up on the monitors, just to avoid a headache. Having had a base on the planet for so long helps, he imagines, with the installation of cameras around the area. As far as Hux understands it- most of the Republic history having been destroyed within the first six years of the Empire- Iridonia had once been the presumed birthplace of the Sith Darth Maul, a short lived ally of the Emperor.

 

His cameras show him a world covered in thick, luscious jungles and seemingly never ending expanses of sand, without many places one could safely land a transport ship full of stormtroopers, especially on a planet already overrun with Resistance fighters. Hux threads his fingers together, digging his nails into his knuckles as he begins to pace around the officer's consoles.

“This may be a fruitless battle, but we will give them everything we have.”

He says, both to the officers round him and the feed in every trooper's helmet. His connection to Kylo Ren, for the moment, is silent. Ren is somewhere else entirely mentally, focusing completely on the mission ahead. He has not seen a battle since the collapse of their base. Hux forces himself not to think of Ren and instead focuses on the status read outs appearing on the monitors.

“ _ There are over twenty Resistance fighters here, General. Would you like us to blitz attack them as practised?” _

Phasma asks, her voice calm and collected through the comm piece. Hux considers the options for a moment, the element of surprise is the only thing keeping his men alive at the moment. The Resistance was no doubt expecting them to flee to the other side of the galaxy to lick their wounds instead of defending their hard earned planets.

“Do whatever you have to. Make sure that Kylo Ren is clearly seen by them all. We want it to be known that the First Order has not been broken by the loss of  _ Starkiller _ .”

The officers below begin to smile at their screens. Hux has always been skilled at raising the spirits of his crew with only a few, heartfelt words. He can hear the sound of Phasma relaying the orders to the troopers, the bump that confirms his suspicions about Ren being onboard.

 

And just for a moment, he feels Ren brush against his mind. Pleased, grateful at the chance to prove he had not been weakened by the attack, almost trembling in his robes with the thrill of being able to fight again, to kill.

_ 'Make me proud.' _

Hux thinks, eyes intent and furious on the monitor in front of him. Ren presses once more, this time sharper and sparking with adrenaline, in response before vanishing again.

“Proceed with the mission now, Captain.”

 

******

_ Kylo Ren's fury is what defines him as a user of the Force. _

_ He slashes his way through every Resistance fighter he sees, barely leaving enough for the squadron of stormtroopers to battle. Not that it matters. This is about setting an example to the Resistance that their confidence is misplaced, that he was not defeated by a little girl with no control. The scar on his face itches so close to his lightsaber, though it is easily ignored. A blaster shot grazes his elbow. He barely feels the pain. Kylo Ren cuts the fighter down with a single hack, cutting him into pieces. He has missed this so badly- like breathing, like  _ **_Hux-_ ** _ that his chest is aching beneath the black robes. The years of being on the hunt, for the map, had awoken something in him: a need to wander further than he ever had as Snoke's pet, to fight and kill and bring home the spoils for Hux to enjoy. _

_ (Kylo Ren does not think of the time he spent in a lonely bed, cold and miserable.) _

 

_ And then he feels  _ **_her_ ** _. _

_ The girl who had defeated him in the snow covered forests of Starkiller. Untrained, an amateur, almost a child. And yet the Force had flown through her in a way he had not seen since spending his childhood with Luke at the Temple. She had been so familiar then, her presence now is enough that a Resistance fighter manages to shoot a hole in his cape. Kylo Ren barely puts any efforts into choking the life out of the helmeted figure in front of him. It is inelegant, almost cruel, taking a life from someone whose name he does not even know. He cannot find the effort to care. _

 

_ She is somewhere on this battlefield, stronger than she had been months before, with his grandfather's lightsaber in her grasp. Kylo Ren can only imagine what Luke has taught her. There is a panicked moment- one in which he waves the next wave of stormtroopers forward impatiently- where he thinks Luke might actually be here, amongst the orange helmets and mismatched clothing of the Resistance. _

“ _ There is a girl here. Find her.” _

_ He demands of the next stormtrooper that passes him, no doubt on their way to die at the hands of a untrained rebel. The message will reach the girl eventually, of that he has no doubt. Being the only two Force users on this battlefield will help matters. _

  
  


_ Later, he will not be sure how long the battle lasts. _

_ Just that it seems to go on for hours and hours, the sound of his lightsaber the only company he has. He suspects that he may have been shot again, this time in the calf, but he cannot be sure feeling like this. Kylo Ren has not had to push away a mind for a long time, the girl has realized he is here, has been making her way through the fight towards him. He feels her trepidation at seeing him again, her pride at holding a lightsaber in her hand. At having found her father. _

 

_ He spins around, the body of another fighter dropping like a bag of stones beside him, and there she stands. Her hair is different, no longer tied back in knots but braided. She wears not the rags of a scavenger but the woolen clothing of a Jedi. Kylo Ren can't stop the scowl from growing on his face, no matter how much it pains him. She looks unbearably like Luke in this moment. _

“ _ I thought I'd see you again,” _

_ She says, her voice carrying with ease across the battlefield. He is not even sure what she is doing here, surely the new Jedi has better things to do than defend the planet of a long dead Sith. A ripple runs across the men behind him- many have stopped in their tracks, blasters hanging at their sides as they stare. Kylo Ren wonders if Hux is watching this on his little cameras. If he can see the girl who had done this to him. _

“ _ I don't want to fight you. I could kill you now, if I wanted. I'm sure of that. Your mother, she misses you. She wants you to come home to her.” _

_ “There's no coming home for me. You should tell her that.” _

_ Why is he talking? It is not common knowledge that Kylo Ren had once been Ben Organa-Solo, son to two of the three most important people in the galaxy at the time. His mother had not made it public that he had the powers of the Force, nor had she given a reason to the Republic as to why he would be sent away. It had not been important to anyone outside the family. _

 

_ There is something about this girl's eyes, this  _ **_Jedi_ ** _ that is familiar to him. _

_ It is not just Luke. Nor is it the fact her face is so like his mother's as he remembers it from childhood. Something older, wiser, lives within her face. And he hates it, because it is not a part of him too. A Skywalker family secret that had passed him by. _

“ _ I won't kill you, Ben.” _

_ “You shouldn't have called me that.” _

_ He snaps out without thinking, marching forward the few steps it will take him to reach her and wring the life from her neck. Kylo Ren does not think of the life before Snoke often, has never let anyone know he is Ben. Except for Hux, who carries the secret like a rock in his heart, jealously protected from the outside world. If that name was to belong to anyone again, it would be to Hux and no-one else. _

 

“ _ My name is Rey.” _

_ She says. It is enough to make him freeze in front of her, the anger- the incredible fury he has carried from childhood- to disappear in surprise. He recognises that name. Heard Luke speak it from time to time, on and off throughout his training at the Temple. _

“ _ Do you think that changes anything here?” _

_ “I don't think you're as bad as you think, Ben. I can see the light in you just like Leia can.” _

_ He cracks. His lightsaber is crashing against hers within seconds, his body moving without his mind as the words echo in his brain. She is faster than he will be, small and agile. Unafraid of what he can do to her. She dodges his swings with more accuracy than in their last fight, giving more back than he has ever felt from a fellow Force user. _

 

_ “Say my name.” _

_ She yells as they move backwards for the briefest of moments, a calm in the middle of a storm. He is panting, sweat flattening his hair to his forehead, hating the hood he wears for blocking his line of sight. Reaching up to lower it is something he does without considering the possible outcomes. Her eyes widen at the damage she has done to his face. _

“ _ Your name is Rey. Your father is Luke. You mean nothing to me.” _

_ Kylo Ren says, in a voice he has only used once, in his father's final moments. The death of Han Solo is still a raw wound of his own creation, one he regrets and understands all at once. Rey nods, a strange familiar smile wandering her lips. He cannot believe he never saw the resemblance before. _

“ _ I won't fight my family.” _

_ “I'm not. Ben Solo is dead. Kylo Ren is what matters now.” _

_ Rey's eyes lower to the ground. He pushes his mind towards her, trying to find a weak point in her armour but finds none. She is counting, he knows that much. To what, he doesn't, and it irks him in a way that nothing else can. The buzzing blue mockery of a lightsaber is turned off as she steps away from him, moving back into the line of Resistance fighters who have stopped to watch the fighting. Kylo Ren can feel much the same thing happening behind him. _

“ _ We want you to come home. I won't fight you any more.” _

_ Rey says, her voice low and painfully earnest. He forces himself to not let his expression change- for a long time, at the beginning with Snoke, he had wished for his mother and father to come and find him; they never had- while she watches him. So like her father, in her wish to find the good in people, the call to the Light. _

 

“ _ We're leaving.” _

_ He tells the nearest stormtrooper, trusting that the message will be relayed through the troops and to wherever Phasma is. Rey stares at him as he deactivates his lightsaber and shoves it back into the holster on his belt. _

“ _ Leave our planets alone and we won't have a problem.” _

_ Kylo Ren adds, as he begins the trek back through the jungle to the command shuttle. He has to force himself not to look back, to think of a future with his mother. One that will never be. _

 

******

“The girl was there.”

Phasma tells him on her way past, no doubt to clean the blood from her armour and headcount her troops. Hux stops and stares at her in the hallway, for once not caring who sees the expression upon his face. He had watched on the monitor as long as the visuals had lasted before being blown up just as the third wave had reached the battlefield.

“Where's Ren?”

“He was going to the training rooms, last I saw of him. Be careful, General, he's... fragile.”

Phasma's uncertainty over using that word tells him all he needs to know. Hux has seen the effect the collapse of  _ Starkiller _ had on the crew, the First Order, himself; and yet no-one had been affected like Kylo Ren. The nightmares have been bad enough to deal with. He doesn't know what will happen now Ren has actually seen the girl.

“I'll keep you informed.”

 

******

 

“Ren.”

The word stops the other man in his tracks. He slowly lowers the training droid hovering against the ceiling panels without a word, turning to face Hux with trembling hands, his back through the thin undershirt shaking with unsteady breaths.

“I saw her. The girl. Her name is Rey.”

“I don't care what her name is, did she do anything to you?”

Hux steps forward, with more caution in his step than he has had in years. It is the way Ren's eyes look as they watch him, burning deep holes in his pale face. Almost feverish in their intensity. Hux cannot remember feeling like this before: worried for someone over something out of his control. His dark hair is wild around his face, curling violently with sweat at the bottom. Hux spies three bandages on his bare arms, another on the gap of flesh between his loose bottoms and shirt. Blaster shots most likely.

“She asked me to come home. To my mother.”

Ren looks miserable, but there is hope in his eyes that sickens Hux to the stomach so suddenly it is like he has been shot. He wants to go home.

 

Hux sees red.

He has not lost his temper in a long time, not since he was a child having to deal with a commonly absent mother and a drunken, gambling fool of a father.

“You want to be good so badly?”

His voice cracks as he shouts, stalking forward to stand in front of Ren in three long steps. The other man even takes a step back, though the misery on his face does not fade  _ (and that  _ **_hope_ ** _ , it is painful to see and pathetic to consider) _ .

“Go crawling back to your mother and her Resistance. Apologise for everything you've done and you know they'll take you back. You'll get to be Ben Solo again.”

 

“Hux..”

_ 'No. Stay out of my head.' _

“You know what you'll be leaving behind? The reputation that you've built for yourself in the galaxy! People are afraid of Kylo Ren, not of the son of a Senator and smuggler. You'll lose the opportunity to finally be a free man- from the Order, from your family's legacy, from Snoke- with no expectations upon you whatsoever. And you'll be leaving me behind too because I will not follow you home to the Resistance, or your mother.”

The speech leaves him almost gasping for air, face bright red with fury. Ren stares at him, startled, his face ashen beneath the lighting fixtures. He looks exhausted, more weary than he has in weeks. The fight had done him good but it had brought trouble to their door just as Hux was considering a life with Ren at his side indefinitely. Ren bites into his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, his bare hands curled into tight fists, eyes never once leaving Hux's face.

“I'm not going back. I can't. Not now.”

“Why?”

Hux snaps, though his voice comes out softer than intended. He hates that Ren can do this to him with just a miserable look and shaking hands. Ren looks small, wearing nothing but exercising gear, and completely without his robes.

“Ben is dead. He died when I killed Han Solo. I gave up my claim to the Light then. I don't need my family any more, I don't need to be good to be happy. I just need you.”

“Are you sure?”

This time it is Ren who moves closer, arms already outstretched to pull Hux into a tight embrace, one that steals the breath from his lungs and loosens the vice around his heart. Ren is all pent up aggression and sadness, his shoulders lined with tension as Hux gently brushes his fingers against the skin of his neck. The bandages have been carefully applied, though not by any doctor. Ren must have cleaned himself up in here.

“I'm sure. I don't want anything else.”

Hux buries his face carefully into Ren's neck, breathing in the scent he has grown used to having been with him for so long. Ren relaxes a little, just enough that he rests his chin against Hux's hair gently, breathing out long through his nose.

 

_ ' I love you.' _

Ren will murmur to him, later on, as they curl around each other in Hux's bed. The sheets are cool against his skin, though not enough that they are a discomfort. Hux smiles at him in the darkness, one hand underneath his cheek, the other resting on Ren's waist. He cannot imagine ever having someone else after what he and Ren have been through to get here. He would never want anybody else.

_ 'I love you as well. Always.' _

******

Hux begins to plot as soon as Ren leaves the next day, burying himself in the history of famous political coups and working through what little remained of the Republic’s documentation. The Empire had destroyed the majority- starting anew, so to speak- which made cataloguing the destruction of the Old Republic difficult. He stops, hours having gone by and his stomach aching with hunger, to smoke slowly at his air refresher, savouring the nicotine going into his system. The smoke gives him something else to focus on despite the feeling that soon, perhaps within the next month, he and Ren will be heading off to uncertain fate for which they can't plan ahead. Hux’s hands shake when he lights the next cigarette, trying to avoid Millicent’s judgemental eyes as she watches him carefully. There is still the smell of Ren on one of the pillows, Hux is tempted to throw it into the shower just to be away from the familiarity.

“I could lose all of this. Is it worth it?”

******

The co-ordinates to Snoke's citadel are passed to him one morning by Mitaka, who silently nods towards the sliding doors of the bridge as they close behind Ren. Hux lowers his head, not smiling but close enough to it, taking the data stick from the other man with a quiet thanks. Just having these numbers are a breach of thirteen out of sixty two First Order rules and regulations. Only one person in the galaxy can know where Snoke is based at any one time, and he is just lucky it is not being passed on to one of the other Knights of Ren. Snoke never occupies the same planet twice, spending the majority of his time completely mobile upon a ship controlled by a crew of droids. If Snoke had remained in one place, it would make the plan so much easier to carry out.

 

He silently plugs the stick into his data-pad, accessing it through his private network while keeping a watchful eye on the officers around him. At one point, Hux had trusted these men and women with his life and ship. Now, with plans to overthrow their Leader flying through his head at all hours, he believes his paranoia is justified. The string of numbers that appear on his screen are startlingly far away from their current position, as they jumped into light speed the second Ren arrived back from Iridonia.

_ 'We can do this.' _

He thinks to himself, eyes tracking the numbers on his screen carefully, committing them to memory should he be required to destroy the data stick. The pressure against his mind from Ren comes less than a moment later, proud and delighted and just the slightest part terrified. Hux can relate. He has never made a plan so monumental.

_ 'The planet is called Themis. Cold, hidden away. I can get us there in a day and a night when you're ready. When you are sure the plan will succeed.' _

Ren's voice is stronger than he has ever heard it. Hux walks to the end of the bridge with his data-pad clutched in his hand, his confidence waning ever so slightly in the face of his plan coming to an end. They could go forth within a month and destroy everything Snoke had ever built for himself. To finally bring his own dreams to fruition.

_ 'I have something I want to ask you. Now. Meet me in my office.' _

_ 'I'll feed Millicent on my way.' _

Hux straightens his back, rolling his shoulders until they crack sharply. His hands try to knot themselves behind him in military rest as his mind wanders to the future. To ruling with Ren at his side as his own Knight.

“Find Phasma. Tell her to be in my office within the next fifteen minutes.”

He says without turning, waiting to hear the scramble from the crew behind him as they move to fulfil his orders.

 

******

Phasma takes the plan with a face that shows him nothing.

After years of studying human behaviour, Hux was expecting more of a dramatic reaction- it is not often one's superior comes to them with the intention of overthrowing everything they have worked so hard to create. He may have underestimated his friend's cunning, or how much she realized was going on between he and Ren.

“Your first plan failed and now you're trying again.”

She says flatly, her helmet sitting on Hux's desk along with her blaster. Hux tries not to bury his head in his hands despairingly and beg her to shoot him. He had never failed as spectacularly as he did at  _ Starkiller _ , something that he hopes to avoid in the near future.

 

“He has me now.”

Ren speaking up doesn't raise Hux's spirits at all. If anything, it lowers them because the confidence in his voice does not match the lack of it in Hux's own. With Phasma here, he can see the faults in this plan to destroy Snoke- too many variables, like the officers on deck and the possible civil war that could begin in the aftermath. Phasma's sharp blue eyes slant over to the man lounging on his office couch, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

“You'll forgive me if that doesn't give me a lot of hope.”

Ren's jaw tightens, he turns his dark gaze to Hux instead, waiting for him to speak up. Hux rises from his chair carefully, holding out the data-pad with the location to Snoke's citadel to Phasma, who takes it with a sigh.

 

The plan, compared to his previous schemes, is simple and most likely completely unachievable. It all hitches upon Kylo Ren being able to reach Snoke's fortress, getting inside and ridding the world of Snoke while simultaneously, Phasma taking charge of the entire First Order fleet to avoid Hux being branded a traitor. Hux himself would have to be inside the citadel with Ren, to ensure he won't be strung up from the rafters within moments of Snoke's death. Phasma reads through the data-pad once, looks up at the two of them with an unimpressed expression and places it back on the desk.

 

“Hypothetically speaking, if a superior officer was to ask you to begin a coup against the Leader of this organization, would you abandon everything you have been taught?”

A smile grows on Hux's face without his permission. He forces himself to count the cracks in his flooring to stop the expression becoming too obvious. Ren presses against his mind, he has seen it and is forcing down one himself. His dark eyes gleam with mischief beneath the hood. Phasma turns her head between the two of them, considering.

“Would you defy every order?”

Ren asks, lifting himself from the couch with as much grace as a dying animal and lowering his hood. His robes fall around him like a curtain, his hair a wild mess against the neatness of Hux's office. The scar on his face is long and wide, splitting his face almost unevenly in two. Hux looks at the man he has chosen to love  _ (and after all this time, who was it who said that monsters could not love one another?)  _ and his closest friend, knowing they will choose what is right. Phasma does not stare at Ren, she gives his face a hard glance before turning away to face Hux,  _ something  _ (it could be a wicked cunning that Hux has only seen on a few occasions, or malice, which is all the more better) sparking in her eyes.

“Sir, for you I would do anything.”

“You'll fit in well.”

Ren mutters.

  
  


******

_ 'After this, I'm going to bend you over that desk and fuck you for hours.' _

Ren's voice is smooth and amused as he speaks to Hux, the two of them climbing the step at the base of Snoke's hologram throne. Hux swallows sharply, presses his lips together. Since recovering, and as the date to acting upon their plan nears, Ren has been insatiable. Hux hasn't seen the inside of his own office for days without being pressed up against his desk within five minutes of opening the door.

_ 'After this I have six meetings to go to. Later?' _

He catches the small nod out the corner of his eye, before lifting his head to meet the old, sly face of their Supreme Leader. Snoke's lizard eyes stare at Hux for the longest, as if trying to figure out where his previous fear has gone since the last meeting. Rarely did he meet Snoke's gaze head on, has always kept his eyes at the scar on his jaw.

“Kylo Ren, you look well.”

“I have recovered, Supreme Leader, and am on my way to you now.”

Ren's voice is just trembling enough to sound genuine, even more obvious now that he refuses to wear a helmet. His identity is not publicly known except to the higher ranking officers in the Resistance, he has nothing to fear by showing his face. And yet, Hux can see the vicious, cruel hatred in his eyes that had never existed before; it had only been present since he killed his own father on the walkways of their base.

“Good. I look forward to completing your training.”

Snoke twines his fingers together beneath his chin, eyes flickering between them both with interest. Hux wonders- not for the first time- if Snoke really is as large as this hologram makes him seem, if that will be a hindrance upon their plan.

 

“General, I want a detailed report of what happened on Iridonia.”

His heart clenches for the briefest of moments. Hux wonders if Snoke can see the sudden panic in his mind, if he is laughing on the inside.

“The Resistance attempted to take our base from us within the planet. I dispatched thirty stormtroopers along with Captain Phasma. Kylo Ren also attended the battlefield, to test his capabilities in the field since the incident.”

“And the girl was there?”

“She was, Supreme Leader.”

Ren interrupts, clearly wanting Snoke's attention back on him. Hux doesn't mind the slight as much as he once had, prefers to have his mind intact instead of being prodded at by Snoke every time either one of them speaks.

“You walked away from a battle you could have finished, Lord Ren. I have been told that you stopped fighting as soon as you saw the scavenger on the battlefield.”

Hux watches Snoke's darken in a deeper scowl than any he has ever seen. He can feel the malice in the air from their Leader, the tightness around his throat as invisible fingers dig into the pale skin- no doubt leaving blossoming bruises in their wake- with the intention to hurt him. Snoke has never done such a thing to Ren in the time Hux has known him, he is aware it is wise not to poke the sleeping beast of his anger.

 

Ren shakes his head enough that his hair becomes wild around his face. The expression on his face can only be described as outright defiance, irritation replacing any fear he might have been using to hide his true feelings. Hux drags his eyes away from him, unable to look at that burning, feverish glint in Ren's eyes.

“She's no longer a scavenger.”

“Then what is she, Lord Ren?”

Snoke's voice is the sound a skull makes as it cracks against stone. Hux feels himself starting to smile on the inside at the expression on his face- it could only be confusion, at seeing Ren act like this after so many years of blind devotion. Ren buzzes with energy beside him, eyes black holes in a pale, scarred face.

“She's a Jedi.”

Snoke flickers out of view as soon as Ren is finished speaking, though Hux catches the trembling in the hologram's hands before it disappears. He turns to look at the man beside him, and Ren is  _ grinning.  _ He is so rebellious and proud and overwhelmingly beautiful in this moment. Hux can feel a smile growing on his face in response, it has been too long since he last saw him look like this.

 

“You made him so angry.”

“I made him realize I might actually be a threat.”

Hux moves into Ren's space without even thinking about it, pressing his hands against Ren's waist. Ren lowers his head, slowly, to press his mouth against Hux's forehead in a soft kiss, letting out a long breath. The bond between them sings with Ren's delight at threatening Snoke and Hux's own pride at being there to witness it finally happen. He knows that Ren has been afraid of Snoke for far longer than they have known each other, he had seen the trembling hands and slash marks in his holochamber for years before he had made the connection.

“Why?”

“So he won't see you coming.”

 

**

When Hux imagines the destruction of Snoke and the rise of his Empire, it goes something like this. He and Ren (originally, the plan had solely focused upon himself, not having any allies at the time) would enter Snoke's citadel under the pretence of delivering catastrophic news of having lost three of their trading ships to the Resistance in three hours. At the same time, the pilots aboard the  _ Finalizer _ would be dispatched for routine safety check ups on the planets under their control by Phasma, to successfully ensure they would be away at the time of the killing. Ren would get close to Snoke, even to his throne if possible, as Hux gives possibly the most riveting speech of his life (one he has been writing for the last eight years, with judgements from Millicent, since he first began to consider the possibility of ruling the galaxy) as a distraction.

 

Ren hates the plan.

That much is clear.

The lightsaber slashes along the wall of Hux's office probably tells him more than just that, but the message comes across loudly once Ren is panting with his head bowed, lightsaber buzzing unstably at his side. Hux sits back in his chair and tries not to think negatively around Ren any further, just to avoid any more damage being done to the walls of his office. His data-pad is wedged in the wall once again, completely destroyed.

“Are you done?”

“You're a fool.”

The words are sharp but there is no bite in Ren's voice as he speaks.  _ A fool _ . Hux has never had the term applied to him before, the other man normally uses it in relation to Han Solo.

“I am not a fool, I'm thinking practically about our situation. Snoke believes you are doubting your dedication to the darkness. He sees you as a credible threat for the first time in all the years he has had you as his apprentice. No-one will be expecting me to be involved with your problems in the slightest, I have him at an advantage.”

“And you'll be risking your life on a hypothetical!”

Hux doesn't flinch when the lightsaber puts another crack in his wall. He has accepted that Ren will not be rational about this any time soon, not as long as there's variables to be dealt with. He simply pushes his chair back, enough to scrape against the cabinet behind, and stands. Ren stops with the lightsaber the second he does so.

 

“There will be risks to us all. You need to understand this before we can continue.”

“I'm not a child, Hux.”

His behaviour may say otherwise but Hux can see why he is acting out in such a manner. He stops in front of Ren, pointedly gazing at the lightsaber until it is switched off and back on Ren's belt where it belongs. The look on the other man's face is miserable acceptance, he knows he will have no say in the matter now that Hux has already decided.

“Everything we do, from now, is to make sure that this galaxy is ours by the time this is all over. That we are risking every little thing we've created to ensure our future as leaders. And that means, my life will be in danger, as will yours, but we can't worry about that.”

Ren breathes in sharply, closing his eyes with resignation. His eyes glimmer, though if it is with tears Hux cannot tell. He has never seen Ren like this- afraid of something out of their control- and it shakes his confidence ever so slightly.

“I believe in this.”

The words are whispered against Hux's neck as he finally allows himself to be embraced. Ren hunches over into the embrace, like a man who has gone too long without comfort and finds himself clinging to the first shred he sees. Hux lets his fingers tangle in the dark, wavy hair at the back of Ren's neck reverently, allows his breath to finally shake as his chest tightens impossibly. It has been too long since he was this close to someone- this close to  _ Ren  _ without feeling like he has to pull away. And being with Ren, knowing that he will not have to enter the citadel alone to fight Snoke, makes Hux's heart pound loud in his ears. He has never been worried for someone like this before. Has never been all that concerned for the people around him- they orbit, as most do with successful people, like small planets, coming and going as time goes on- but now he has something to lose.

“I believe in you. And what you can do to break him.”

Hux says back, and closes his eyes so he no longer has to look at the dark, damp walls of the chamber around them. It is a poignant reminder of where they will soon be going.

 

******

_ Kylo Ren first hears the voice of the thing that will become his Master when he is five. _

_ He will not understand the implication of the words being whispered into his mind until he is much older, but by then it is too late. He has already fallen. The darkness festering in his young soul- still wanting to be good, like his mother and father and Uncle Luke- only grows with every whisper. Lines begin to appear in his mother's forehead. His father's eyes dim every time he sees Ben floating an object closer. _

“ **_Too much like Vader”_ ** _ , Ben will hear his father mutter one night when his door is closed and the night has set in. There is no reply from his mother but breakfast the next morning is a stilted affair; Han Solo will leave on a mission not much later. He asks Snoke- his friend, who heaps praise every time he is bad- who Vader is. Snoke will tell him, as he does for the next ten years, that Darth Vader had been a great man, tempted by the Light. _

_ A week after Ben smashes all of the lighting fixtures in an attempt to feel what his grandfather had felt in the suit, he is sent away to the Jedi Temple. He learns the story of Anakin Skywalker from Luke, but is taught the ways of Darth Vader secretly by Snoke. _

 

_ At ten years old, Ben will break a boy's arm clean in two with just his mind. _

_ Three years later, a little girl appears at the Temple, dark haired and with the eyes of his Uncle. Ben doesn't know what to make of her. She is young, not allowed near their practise sabers, but there is something in her eyes that speaks of an intelligence greater than his own. He chooses, for the first time, to not let Snoke know about her. _

 

“ _ You could be so much greater.” _

_ Snoke murmurs in the dead of night, when Ben is coiled around his pillow and screaming his terrors into the fabric. He can feel Luke's presence not far away, with the little Rey, comforting and familiar. He will not go to his uncle for anything now. _

“ _ Like Vader?” _

_ Ben asks. _

_ “More than Vader, if you wanted.” _

_ Ben opens his eyes for the first time since he stumbled into his room and stares at the world outside his window. The lights of Corsucant stare back at him. A flash of yellow- it could be the headlights of a passing speeder, or simply a reflection- passes through his dark irises. _

_ This is the beginning. _

 

_ Ben Solo dies at fifteen years old, on the rain splattered steps of the Temple. _

_ Kylo Ren rises, as he lowers the mask made for him over his young face, and climbs the same stairs his grandfather had so long ago. The battle within the Temple will last only minutes, with the Knights of Ren at his side, before he moves onto the training fields. _

_ It is there he will face his true opposition. _

_ There is only one who will get away- he will not fully realize the impact of his actions until fifteen years later, standing in the snow covered forest of  _ **_Starkiller_ ** _ and watching her lift his grandfather's lightsaber- and only one old enough to tell the true story. The new Jedi Order is destroyed within moments of him entering the training field, slashing left and right with the bloody red lightsaber, hidden beneath his mask for the first time. It is claustrophobic, overwhelmingly so, and Kylo Ren will wonder if this is how Vader felt. _

  
  
  


******

“You know what you have to do, Captain.”

Hux mutters to Phasma one morning, leaning over his desk console in an attempt to portray his usual level of irritated passive aggression, narrowing his eyes at any officer who may glance up. He levels a nod towards Mitaka, who presses his hands to the backs of two stormtroopers gossiping in the furthest corner of the bridge. Phasma will punish them suitably, but having them out of his line of sight is significantly better. Phasma's armour clanks behind him, all but glowing beneath the lighting fixtures, as she shifts into a more comfortable position. Her hands on the blaster tighten ever so slightly.

“Yes, General. Anything else?”

It is most likely not wise of them to discuss such matters in public; not with Hux having seen a rise in officers watching him closely, no doubt waiting for the inevitable mental breakdown in the wake of his failure at  _ Starkiller,  _ and the opportunity to take his place as General. Most of them have been waiting over ten years for a promotion.

“Your thoughts on Kylo Ren at the moment?”

Hux levels a gaze at the eye line of Phasma's helmet, watches the way she tilts her head ever so slightly to the side. He can only imagine her expression beneath the helmet.

“Still a world of trouble, sir but I believe he can achieve what we need him to.”

Hux smiles, pleased that her opinion of Ren has not changed within the last few weeks of their working together. Knowing Phasma will manage the more temperamental aspects of the plan allows him to focus upon what matters: defeating Snoke.

“Good, he'll be pleased to hear that.”

 

******

**_'Come to me now, Kylo Ren.'_ **

_ He hears one morning, when he is wrapped around Hux and enjoying the peace the early hour brings. Snoke's voice is enough to make him cringe within his skin, bury his face into the pillow as memories of blood being washed away from stone steps by torrential rain smash against his exhausted brain. Kylo Ren has not been able to sleep well since Hux told him of his intention to go after Snoke, with or without him. _

_ 'Of course, Master,' he thinks in response, breathing slowly through his nose with his eyes screwed tightly shut. Like this, he can't see that Hux is opening his eyes curiously, sharp even in the moment after sleep, his red hair a mess around his head. Kylo Ren tenses his jaw so much that his teeth begin to ache from the pressure, ignoring the concern leaking from the man opposite him. It has been a long time since he woke Hux like this. Neither of them like to recall the weeks before the incident- the manipulation, as Hux had called it in his file- but Kylo knows that the memory is at the forefront of Hux's brain right now. He forces himself to think of happier things; the bright wickedness of Hux's smile, the fiery red hair against white pillows, the sounds that can escape his mouth with just the softest of nips to the side of his neck. _

 

“ _ It's time, isn't it?” _

_ Hux's voice is flat and emotionless. Kylo Ren opens his eyes slowly, not wanting this moment to fade away. For all he knows, this could be the end. Everything they had built- over years of distrust and hatred, and love and a mutual, beautiful understanding- could crumble apart like dust in Snoke's hands. His confidence in the plan has wavered from day to day, like Hux's own, but now it flat lines all together. Dead before they even start. _

“ _ Yes.” _

_ His voice sounds like sand scraping over boulders. Hux's eyes gleam at him, sharp and dark and so painfully real that Ren's heart aches in his chest. The cold, pale fingers that press against the scar cresting his cheek snap him back into the moment, their last few seconds, before everything changes. He has enjoyed being with Hux- the plotting, the secrets, the fucking against desks the moment Phasma leaves the room- more than he should have. _

**_The Dark cannot have what it wants. It only takes and takes._ **

 

“ _ I won't lose you to him.” _

_ Kylo Ren adds, when Hux does nothing but trace the marks on his face carefully, as if committing them to memory. Not that they will live long enough to enjoy it. He has seen Snoke rip apart people from the inside for much less severe crimes than attempting to overthrow him, he has been responsible for some of the executions personally. _

“ _ I know that, but if it happens..” _

_ “It won't. I'll kill him before he touches you.” _

_ The possessiveness in his voice surprises them both, but it brings a smile to Hux's face he basks in for as long as it lasts. Kylo Ren moves closer, wrapping his arms around Hux's waist and tugging until there is only inches between the two of them. It is like this, that he feels at home. No world domination, no chaos, could compare to this. _

**_The Dark will take him before you get to keep him._ **

“ _ I love you.” _

_ Hux says, like a prayer, as he presses kisses against the marks on Kylo Ren's face. This could be goodbye, it could be something else entirely- a promise, of what is too come, in a universe where they may actually win- or it could be nothing. He thinks of what they have achieved to get here, the sacrifices it had taken to make him turn away from his blind loyalty to Snoke, and begins to believe again. _

“ _ No-one will ever touch you. Not if I get my way.” _

_ Kylo Ren says instead. Hux seems to think it is a good enough answer. _

 

******

The Kylo Ren that meets him on the deck two days later is not the one he knows.

It is the Force user of  _ before _ \- all tense, sharp shoulders and curled fists, the air screaming with his need to break free in anger- that lifts his chin to meet Hux's cool gaze, defiance in his dark eyes. He is a far cry from the man he has been for the past few months. For a moment, a fleeting silly thing, Hux can finally see the resemblance between Han Solo and his son; fighting the world against every possible odd, and still believing they can achieve.

“Are you ready to return to your training, Lord Ren?”

His words are clipped. Cold. The way that a commanding officer's should be. No doubt there will be surprised expressions and bags of credits being exchanged on the bridge as the officers watch, blatantly not doing their work now that he is gone. Ren's eyes gleam underneath his hood, it is like watching space swallow a planet whole  _ (Hux is instantly reminded of Starkiller, and his own fury begins to rise in place again). _

“I am, General.”

“I'll be accompanying you to the citadel personally, to ensure your safe arrival.”

 

In minutes, this will all be over. The plotting, the deceit, having to hiding his data-sticks inside packets of cigarettes he has locked in his private drawer. Being forced to bow to anybody in the galaxy without being able to rise and stare them down. He is ready to be Emperor- has been ready for the last six years, and finally, his plan is coming to fruition.

Ren is smiling, ever so slightly, beneath his hood and that tells Hux all he needs to know. The lightsaber- swinging from a new holster on Ren's belt- catches his eye, he stares at it for a long moment and prays to whatever gods might still remain that this will all work.

“That sounds fine.”

Ren turns, striding up the ramp into the shuttle where he no doubts begins to punch in the codes he needs for them to reach Themis quickly. Below them, the planet turns, green and white and overly unimpressive in its size. Hux had always believed Snoke would reside somewhere more dramatic, not a tiny cold planet on the outskirts of the Outer Rim. He narrows his eyes in its direction very briefly through the viewport, before beginning his own climb up the ramp and into the shuttle.

 

**

 

_ Snoke's citadel rises like a nightmare from the dense landscape, looming and cracking apart from the inside. Kylo Ren has heard rumours that this building once belonged to the Sith of old, long before any form of democracy had taken hold in the galaxy, and had been left to rot within its darkness. That would explain the way his hands cannot seem to stop trembling as he and Hux- so bright in the dim light- disembark from the shuttle. He has closed his mind off as far he physically can from the hurricane of Hux's thoughts, focusing only on the mission in front of him. It is hard. Kylo Ren has not seen Hux outside since the last night on  _ **_Starkiller_ ** _ , as everything collapsed around them and he bled into the snow. He has forgotten how his red hair gleams in the natural light, his pale skin and sharp, ice green eyes lock onto the building in front of them with an intensity that is almost frightening. Hux has been ready for this moment for a long time, Kylo realizes, even longer than they have known each other and he will stop at nothing to achieve his dream. _

 

“ _ He'll know you're here.” _

_ Ren mutters to Hux, just to get that gaze to turn on him. It is not any easier with Hux's eyes resting on his own, no doubt finding out everything he needs to know with just a single glance. He has found he cannot lie to Hux, no matter how hard he tries. _

“ _ Let him. I'm not leaving here without his crown.” _

_ Hux turns to him, gesturing with one hand- he has left the gloves on the ship, has not worn them for years now, and it makes Kylo Ren uncomfortable to see the difference- for the other man to lead the way. He does so, slowing his usual loping stride enough for Hux to walk beside him. _

 

_ They walk in silence, their minds elsewhere. _

_ Hux reaches out, his fingers tangling with Kylo Ren's own and it is enough to make him stop in his tracks and lower his hood to meet the other man's eyes. He has not truly loved someone in his entire life- not as Ben, or Kylo Ren, or the man he is now- until he knew Hux, and out of that animosity and mutual hatred, something else had grown. A beautiful twisted understanding he may lose today with this plan. _

“ _ You know the plan.” _

_ Hux says. His eyes gleam. Kylo Ren thinks of the day in the snow, long ago now, when everything started. Hux looked like this then, proud and distant and strong. _

“ _ I know it.” _

“ _ I'm coming with you.” _

**_You're not alone._ **

_ Kylo Ren nods carefully, his head lowered. Hux's fingers brush his hair, almost too lightly to tell, before being pulled back. When he looks up, it is to find a smile on Hux's face that he has not seen before- warm, content. Happy. In this moment, with everything they have around them about to end, Hux is happy to have him here. _

“ _ I love you.” _

**_I know._ **

“ _ I love you too.” _

 

******

“Kylo Ren.”

Without the filter of the hologram, Snoke's voice is almost a growl.

A shiver runs sharply down Hux's spine, like ice has been poured into his spinal column and is freezing it apart from the inside. Ren doesn't flinch beside him, eyes burning beneath the hood. Snoke is shorter than his holographic image had perceived him to be; compared to the twenty-five feet Hux is used to seeing, the frailty of his seven foot body is heartening to see. The lines of his face are even more twisted, the scar grotesque and tight across his jaw and cheek. And yet, the eyes have not been diminished by the graininess of their broken holo-projector; in reality they are more intelligent than Hux has ever seen on a living being.

“My Master.”

He can see now, what Ren means when he describes Snoke's influence, the way he squirms his way into every crevice in one's brain until you know nothing more but him. Hux can feel it happening the longer he stands beside Ren, the two of them only mere feet away from their target. Snoke's eyes glitter in the half darkness of the crumbled room around them, his throne surrounded by cracked rubble and crawling vines. Hux's eyes catch on a beetle making its way across the floor with determination, and resolutely stay there until Snoke speaks.

 

“You brought the General with you to ensure your personal safety?”

Snoke asks, the question directed towards Ren though he shows no sign of having heard. Ren's mind is far away, somewhere cold and lonely that Hux cannot reach him, a place in the Dark where even Snoke is inconsequential.

“There has been reports of.. insubordination among the crew, Supreme Leader. After FN-2187's defection and our losses at  _ Starkiller _ , there has been talk of a coup.”

For all that Hux knows, a coup could be occurring if Phasma has failed in her role as acting commander. Only he is not there to control his men should the worst from happening; he is down here, in the ruins of a citadel with Ren.

 

“And you believe that makes Lord Ren a liability?”

“Not a liability. A danger.”

Ren stirs beside him, lifting his head fully to stare Snoke in the eye. The words that drip from his mouth sound as if they are being choked from him, like he is pushing down laughter. From this angle, Hux cannot see the expression on his face but he recognises the shock playing over the scarred face above them well enough. He has never heard Ren sound like this and is not sure what is going on in the swirling mess of the other man's mind.

“Watch your tongue, boy.”

Snoke's voice is sharp and as cold as ice when he speaks. Ren reaches up, carefully pushing down his hood, to show his face fully. The scar is fading slowly, a constant reminder of what they have done to get themselves here, but it will never disappear. Snoke's cruel eyes lock onto it with a fascination Hux would normally associate with one standing upon a insect. Ren's chin is raised defiantly, his eyes  _ glittering _ and flecked with yellow that makes Hux's stomach twist tightly. There is a smile on his face.

And in the next moment, between one blink and the next, Ren has his lightsaber in one hand, casting a bloody red glow across his face as it buzzes wildly.

 

“You would dare threaten me with that?”

“You never believed I was a threat to you, did you? That I could think without your voice whispering in my ear at all hours? You thought you knew everything there was to know about me- who I was with, of what I spoke of, when I ate or slept-”

“What you do in your free time does not concern me, nor with whom you fraternize.”

Snoke's voice lowers. He extends a careful hand towards Ren as if soothing a wild animal, a misleadingly kind expression on his face. Hux takes one slow, measured step back, recognising the look on Ren's face from years of predicting temper tantrums. The blaster in his pocket seems to burn against his thigh, just yearning to be used.

“This isn't about him. This is about what I'm going to take from you.”

Ren slashes forward, more temper than thought, and Snoke vanishes from the throne like dust. Hux lets out a gasp, already spinning on his heel to stare at the abandoned throne room around them. Beside him, Ren trembles with fury, his eyes almost a blazing yellow. His gaze meets Hux's with trepidation, as if ashamed in failing him.

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't-”

“Not now, Ben. Later.”

 

The look of shock on Ren's face tells him that the slip of words has been noticed. The small, uncertain smile that follows is what makes Hux tightens his shoulders and tug the blaster from his pocket. The murder of Snoke might belong to Kylo Ren, but he wants a piece on behalf of what the damage done to the boy Ren had once been.

“Concentrate. He's listening.”

Hux mutters. It doesn't make the smile fade from Ren's face completely but some of the yellow disappears from his eyes. He twirls the lightsaber in an arc, almost as naturally as one would bend their arm. There is a laugh from behind them, though when Hux turns with his blaster raised there is nothing there.

“ _ Oh, Ben Solo. How small and pure you were then! Just a child.” _

Hux is not sure whether the words are inside his head or being echoed around the room; Ren must hear them too, his face tightens into a dark scowl, there is another restless swing of the lightsaber before he settles into a defensive stance.

“Come out and face me, you monster.”

Ren hisses into the silence of the throne room. There is a crack of stone behind them, crumbling to rubble inches from their feet. Snoke is enjoying this, seeing Ren squirm like prey caught in a net, an attempt to drive him into pure frustrated destruction. Hux can feel it in the air, the overwhelming need to fight from the man beside him and the twisted enjoyment from the beast hiding somewhere within the citadel.

“ _ You will never be worthy of Vader. The girl would be more suited to that than you. When I am finished here, I will be reaching for her. To turn her to the Dark.” _

“You will not be touching my family.”

 

The next time Hux moves his eyes to the doorway they entered through, Snoke is there. He almost jumps out his skin when the monster raises a single frail hand, and the ground begins to shake and break apart beneath their feet. The power of the Force allows Ren to remain on his feet, barely moving except for agitated swings of his lightsaber.

 

“You would do this all, for him?”

“I would.”

“Then you will both die.”

He barely manages to get a breath in before Snoke has him by the throat from ten feet away, choking for air around the invisible fingers digging into his neck. A moment later, his boots trail along the ground as he is tugged forward carelessly, to dangle inches in front of their Leader. Ren is silent with shock, Hux can see the reflection of the scene behind him in Snoke's blank eyes. There is no fury now, Hux thinks hysterically around the oxygen deprivation, only emptiness; the last thing he will ever see may well be the satisfaction lurking around Snoke's mouth at finally having gotten Ren to heel.

“Drop him!”

Ren shouts, his voice cracking with anger at the end. Hux closes his eyes, not wanting to stare into the depths of Snoke's any longer, and forces himself not to struggle in the hold. He has seen the footage of what Vader used to do to people using this, has seen Ren do much the same thing to prisoners over the years. Struggling just draws out the inevitable. It is because his eyes are closed, that he does not see the knife appear in Snoke's hand.

 

**

_ Kylo Ren is reaching out to tug the glinting knife from Snoke's hand but finds himself unable to move, stuck in the hold that he has spent the last four years perfecting at Snoke's knee. He can only watch as Hux- blue in the face, his lungs burning for air- dangles like a puppet with no strings feet away, unable to help. _

 

“ _ This is what you deserve.” _

_ Snoke says. His movement is too quick for Ren's eyes to catch, but he sees the steel glint in the dim light around them as it moves towards Hux's face. Ren pushes against the hold, his ribs burning and aching beneath his robes. The lightsaber in his hand feels like a dead weight in his hand. And it is then that he knows what he has to do. Before Hux can be hurt, be damaged in a way that no-one can fix. The way Ben Solo had been when he had shoved this very saber through his own father's heart. Hux blinks open green eyes that are beginning to be red around the edges, blood vessels bursting from lack of oxygen, unable to show any surprise in his current situation. _

 

_ Kylo Ren blinks, and there is blood pouring from the wound that has opened on Hux's face, spilling down his pale skin like a crimson waterfall. His eyes are huge above the split in his skin, shocked and fading fast from blood loss. Snoke drops him to the ground unceremoniously, like he is something dirty to dispose of quickly. Kylo Ren can feel his temper building, the anger that will break the hold, faster than it ever has before; he makes no attempt at being calm. _

“ _ What have you done?” _

_ Hux mutters, seemingly to Snoke but it is difficult to tell. His face is almost as red as his hair, the blood coursing down it staining his skin until he looks like a corpse. Kylo frowns at him, more worried than he has ever been, and bubbling over with a rage that threatens to swallow him whole before he realizes. _

 

_ Hux is laughing beneath the blood. _

_ At Snoke for doing this to him. _

_ For daring to touch something that has been Kylo Ren's for the last four years, their time apart no longer applying. Hux has belonged to him for as long as they have touched one another, and they both know what will happen now that Snoke has crossed that line. _

 

_ It is hearing him laugh that finally allows Kylo Ren to break free. _

_ He has never heard Hux laugh before, he thinks as he strides towards Snoke, lightsaber already swinging in the death arc he had long perfected before defecting. Luke had always been clear on what he should and should not do in combat: never giving one's enemy enough time to flee had been the only lesson Ben Solo had taken away from his Uncle's teachings. Snoke stares at him, shock and surprise covering a face he has long since realized is hiding immeasurable cruelty. Hux is still on his knees on the stone floor, doubled over and laughing with a growing hysteria that makes Ren's head hurt. It could be the lack of oxygen, or the blood loss, or just relief at being able to breathe again. _

_ Whatever it is, he knows one thing. Snoke has caused this. _

_ And he has to pay. _

 

“ _ My boy. Lord Ren. Kylo.” _

_ Snoke mutters, backing away slowly as Kylo Ren advances on him. The name Ben Solo hangs between the three of them, as if daring someone to bring up the memories of the past. Kylo Ren never deserved the name, not from the moment he was born. Han Solo and Leia Organa had named him for the mentor who had saved Luke, though he had done nothing to honour the name he had been given. Only Hux has spoke the words without causing a vice to tighten around his heart, and so Ren gives the name to him without thinking. _

“ _ I'm not yours.” _

_ Kylo Ren hisses, striding forward purposefully, past Hux with only a glance in his direction. There is nothing he can do for Hux now, not until they are safe and away from this evil place. Snoke's eyes looked scared. It feels good to see it at last. He swings the lightsaber- remembering what this monster had told him, at the beginning, about how he had abandoned the Old Ways after the collapse of the Empire- without any resistance. _

_ If Snoke carried a lightsaber, if he had not been so arrogant in his ways, he may have faced some form of a fight against his old Master. But none comes. Snoke knows he is beaten, from the minute the lightsaber begins its descent towards his skull. Kylo Ren can see it in the Force around them, as it abandons the monster to find someone new to latch onto. For the new line of Jedi about to be born. _

“ _ I'm his.” _

 

_ Snoke's head rolls far. _

_ Ren kicks it even further, until it bounces against the ancient wooden doors, and its glazed over eyes are no longer facing towards him. The body it belonged to twitches once, twice, before stilling. As deaths go, it is one of the most unimpressive Kylo Ren has ever seen, and yet he feels as if a weight has been lifted from his mind- a mind constantly pushed down underneath a darkened will- after years of knowing nothing else. He drops the lightsaber carelessly after deactivating it, stumbling towards Hux with purpose. _

 

_ The man looks up at him, red stains on his bare hands that shake with adrenaline. Ren drops to his knees beside Hux, reaching out without knowing what he intends to do here. The slash to Hux's face is deep, painful looking but no longer bleeding as heavily; it looks almost like a crescent moon on his left cheek. He winces when Ren puts a finger on the bruises blooming on his neck like flowers, but doesn't pull away. If anything he moves closer, achingly slow and so filled with pain, to press his face into Ren's shoulder, seemingly not caring about the blood staining his clothes or the wound on his cheek. _

“ _ He's dead. I.. I killed him for you.” _

_ Kylo Ren stammers. He is not used to feeling like this. Wonders quickly if this is how it felt for Hux to find him in the red soaked snow of Starkiller as the planet collapsed around them. As their lives work had been blown up in their faces. _

_ “I know.” _

_ Hux breathes softly into his neck. Ren wraps his arms around the shaking body in front of him, gentle in a way he thought he had forgotten. The Force shifts and bends when Ren closes his eyes and buries his face in Hux's hair, though he ignores it for now. Wherever the powers of the Force end up, it is not up to him to chase the children down. That had always been Luke's inclination; maybe it will be his daughter's too. _

 

“ _ Your mind is so full.” _

_ The words seemingly tumble from Hux's mouth without him realizing. Ren glances down and sees the smile on the other man's face, pained looking but genuine in a way that he never wants to stop seeing. He lets his hands rest on the red hair in front of him, slowly smoothing the gel out like he has been doing at night for years. It helps Hux to sleep, being held, though he never asks for it. Kylo Ren has always liked that. _

“ _ You called me Ben.” _

“ _ That's your name, just like mine is Darian.” _

_ Hux sucks in a breath that makes him cough, pulling back enough to stare at Ren with glistening green eyes. He's in shock, Kylo Ren can easily see, and fighting off the knowledge that his dream has came to fruition until a more plausible time. He makes no attempt to move from the rubble around them, and he can feel how grateful Hux is at not having to think about the future. _

“ _ Han Solo was the last one to speak that name before you.” _

_ “My mother is the only one who calls me Darian.” _

_ Where these truths are coming from, Kylo Ren has no idea. He thinks of his mother- proud and beautiful, but so sad- and of his father- strong and weary and  _ **_dead_ ** _ \- for the first time without malice since he was a child. He thinks of Hux's mother and father, of the two brothers who had died within weeks of each other as the Empire collapsed around them, and the stories they have both told one another. Kylo Ren would like to meet the woman who raised Hux, to see if she fits in with the ideals of her son. Hux presses three shaking fingers very gently to the freckles above Ren's brow, a smile in his eyes. The wound on his face is no longer bleeding, but it will need to be cleaned soon, to avoid infection. _

 

“ _ Will I have a scar?” _

_ “You will.” _

_ Ren murmurs. Hux nods once, as if considering the possibility of seeing his skin marked in such a way. It doesn't seem to concern him that the body of their Leader lies a foot away, his head pressed against the doors like a brick used to keep them open. _

“ _ I can live with that.” _

_ He reaches out hesitantly as he speaks, allowing Kylo Ren to tug him to his feet with only a slight sway. Ren grips his elbow tightly, possibly enough to leave bruises to match the ones around Hux's neck, until the wave of dizziness passes. _

“ _ We'll match.” _

_ Hux adds as an afterthought and it is enough to make the two of them laugh. _

 

**

It is weeks before any news reaches the Resistance.

When it does, Poe Dameron is the one who comes to her with it, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his flight uniform. He leaves Finn and Rey outside, BB-8 beeping unhappily as he shuts the door to her office with a tap of his foot. That tells Leia Organa all she needs to know about the situation with the First Order, even before he manages to get a word out.

 

There is a graze above Poe's left eye and bruises over his jaw that makes her wonder if he has been sparring with Rey again for Finn's amusement. He plops down in the chair across from her, running a hand through tousled hair as he guiltily lifts an apple from the bowl beside his elbow. The care in his movements makes her smile, as even now he expects her to make him return the food. Leia will never admit this to anyone- especially not to Poe himself- but she leaves the bowl there in the knowledge that her best pilot probably hasn't eaten in hours.

_ (The fact that another two apples always disappear into his many pockets is another fact neither of them mention, though the grins on Finn and Rey' s faces say it all when she sees the three of them later, heads bowed towards each other in the mess hall.) _

 

“Snoke is dead.”

The blunt words come with a crunch of the apple. Leia sucks in a startled breath, unable to keep her composure. She misses Han like a piece of her soul is gone, like she has been cut in half, and has spent the last fifteen years mourning her son. Snoke had taken all of that from her, but she had never expected to live long enough to hear the news of his death. Poe's dark, young  _ (but oh, so wise)  _ eyes stare at her from beneath his mop of curls, carefully mapping out her expression and no doubt planning what he will say next without any hurry.

 

“Who killed him?” Leia asks.

And she prays- to the Force, to the democracy she has spent so many years trying to uphold, in the memory of her mother- that it is Kylo Ren who had finally turned upon his master. That Ben had broken free of the reins controlling him. Poe lets out a long suffering sigh that reminds her so much of Kes and Shara that her heart tightens a little. The apple dangles between two fingers carefully, as he watches her. Leia knows that his thoughts travel the same path as her own, remembering Poe's childhood best friend and everything the man had lost when Ben had turned to the Dark Side.

“It was Kylo Ren. He didn't act alone. Snoke's death came upon the request of General Darian Stanford Hux, of the First Order.”

The full name is not necessary. Leia Organa knows the Hux family from father to son. The mastermind behind  _ Starkiller  _ base had been a popular subject of the propaganda in recent years. She knows the name- and the methods- well.

“Why?”

This is where Poe sits up straighter, uncurling from his slouch and placing the apple on the floor beside his dusty boots. His face is deadly serious, no trace of the smiling man most of the Resistance has come to know anywhere in sight. Leia can remember seeing the same expression on his face when a younger Poe- against the wishes of his despairing father- had defected from the Republic fleet and into the Resistance. She mirrors his position, forcing herself to ignore the ghosts standing in the corner of the room and the pressure of Luke against her mind. Her father and brother can wait. Poe cracks his fingers, lifts his head and speaks.

“Hux has declared himself Emperor.”

 

**_“Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”- Emily Brontë_ **

 

_ To be continued.. _

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> you can find me at huxsmurderbeam on tumblr


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